November Updates

Our board enjoying a meal together at our latest board meeting

November has been another busy month in the life of New Hope and our beneficiaries. We have taken on two new beneficiaries and continued journeying with some previous beneficiaries, and we can’t believe how the month has flown by and we are in December already. As we come to the end of 2018 we have begun to reflect on the year and what have been wins, challenges and area we need to grow in. We have been humbled as we remember that we don’t always have all the answers and we fall short on some of the decisions that we make. Yet we are set on learning from our shortcomings and giving our beneficiaries our best. We have been reminded that just as God has grace for our mistakes, we too are to show grace to others and have been truly challenge to show this same grace to our beneficiaries, as we walk this rocky and unpredictable journey with them.

New video on our website

Training

From time to time we have the privilege and opportunity to train others in what we have learnt over the years. This month we were asked by the Obs Pasta Kitchen which meet every week on a Wednesday at St. Michael’s Church in Observatory, to train them on how shelters and rehabs work along with some of our learnings from our experiences. It was a wonderful time of sharing on a topic that we are so passionate about and being able to equip others with tools to help the homeless of Cape Town. If you or anyone you know would like to organize a training session please don’t hesitate to contact us on info@newhopesa.org we would love to share the knowledge that we have gained.

St Peter's Community Dinners

As the year comes to an end so do our weekly community meals as we break until the beginning of February. This past week we had our end of the year Thanksgiving meal together. It was a wonderful evening of remembering what we are thankful for, enjoying one another's company and some delicious food.

St Peter's is looking for volunteers to help cook the Thursday night meal on Thursday mornings, starting from the beginning of February 2019. You don't have to have much experience in the kitchen, just willing hands to peel, chop and stir. If this something that you are interested in you can sign up on our website.

Beneficiaries

Peter*

Peter started The Zanokhanyo Job Readiness course this month and we have already hear amazing feedback from him on how he is enjoying the course. We trust that he will be able to build good relationships while on the course which will broaden his network and help him in securing work.

Michael

Michael is still working on his recovery at TWC in Eindekuil and seems to be doing well for the most part. However has had a bit of a bumpy time over the last week, where he was feeling a little disillusioned with the future and wondering what lies ahead of him. We were able to encourage him to focus on his recovery and see through the festive season at TWC. He has just applied for his SASSA old age pension, which he has been excited about since he turned 60 a few months back. This will open up more options for him when considering where to live when he leaves TWC.

Roger* and Walter*

Roger and Walter are remaining strong in their recovery and are currently doing very well. They will be staying at Inner Peace Fraserburg over the Festive Season and come January will be moving down to Barrington House (Tertiary Rehabilitation House) in Observatory. We look forward to having them back in Cape Town soon, where we can walk a closer journey with them and see then more regularly.

Mary* and Hlubi*

Mary and Hlubi are a couple who have been regulars at the St Peter’s Community Dinners and the weekly bible study for some time now. They recently expressed their interest in getting off the street and entering into recovery. Mary had just had a baby and knew that if she didn’t start a journey of changing her life style the chances of her being able to care for her child were very slim. We decided that this would be a good opportunity for us to assist them in their recovery. Mary has gone to Together We Can Inpatient Rehab and Hlubi to Freeway Ministries Discipleship house in Retreat. Both seem to be doing well and settling into their programmes. Richard and Leila two of our board members had the opportunity of visiting Hlubi last week and encouraging him in his recovery as he adjust to the programme and new life style.

Daniel*

Daniel submitted a proposal to the New Hope Board last month asking for us to provide him with a list of tools that he will need in order to find work as a tiler. We submitted this proposal to Brights Hardware who then provided the tools to Daniel with a considerable discount. He now has all the tools he needs to secure tiling jobs, which he has been constantly on the hunt for. In the last few days we heard from Daniel that he managed to secure a tiling contract for December and January. He will be starting on the 3rd of December. We are so pleased that these tools have enabled him to secure a good contract.

Thank you!

A big thank you to all of our funders who have supported us over the course of 2018. We would not have had the opportunity to assist all of our beneficiaries in the ways that we did without your support. Thank you to those who have kept us and our beneficiaries in their prayers over the course of the year. It is only by the grace and kindness of God that we have had the privileged of seeing transformation in so many lives this year. Lastly, thank you to our gracious Father who has kept us and sustained us to do the work that He has set before us.